About the Show

Daughter is an award-winning one-man show about toxic masculinity, by Canada’s Bouffon-King Adam Lazarus. Both hysterical and disturbing, Daughter plays in the liminal space between autobiography and fiction. It is a darkly satirical piece about a father stuck in a moment of confusion – raised in patriarchy, confronting his new identity as a patriarch/father, and not knowing how to operate in the world.

Are we defined by our past? Where do we draw the line? Can we forgive? Can we change?

Daughter interrogates these questions and examines the beauty and horror of men in the true-bouffon style: stories that expose and laugh at the hypocrisies and difficulties of the human experience.

Upcoming Productions

November 2017: The Theatre Centre Production
Co-produced by The Theare Centre and QuipTake with Pandemic Theatre
Dates: November 7-19, 2017
Venue: The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street West, Toronto)

February 2018: National Arts Centre Production
Co-produced by The National Arts Centre, QuipTake, and Pandemic Theatre
Dates: February 2018
More details coming soon!

Keep your eyes peeled for more information about our tickets and further dates

Press

“★★★★★. Adam Lazarus’s one man show provides an enormous psychological impact. Daughter leaves an audience challenged and deeply unnerved from exposure to the ugliness of misogyny.”
-Mark Kay, Torontoist

“★★★★. Critics’ Pick. Its themes are more urgent than ever…this is a strong, disturbing play, one you’ll need to discuss with friends afterwards.”
-Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine

“A+. Must-see. Daughter is the scariest show I’ve seen all year, as dangerously engaging (and genuinely funny) as it is brutally visceral.”
-Kelly Bedard, My Entertainment World

“Adam Lazarus is both delightful and depraved… This is the first show I have seen where I don’t want to write a review. I just want to say, go and experience it, as I feel anything I write will take away from the true — almost philosophical — experience of Daughter.”
-Jeff Kerr, Mooney on Theatre

Daughter

After our wildly successful run in Romania, Daughter returns to Canada for a 3 night run at the Kick and Push festival in Kingston, ON. This will be your last chance to see the show before it returns to Toronto in the late Fall of 2017.

Daughter examines the beauty and horror of men raised in a patriarchal society having to come face-to-face with their new identity as patriarchs. Can they evolve? Can they repent? Can they change? This will be the scariest show you see all year, as dangerously engaging (and genuinely funny) as it is brutally visceral.

**This performance contains subject matter and language that may be considered offensive or disturbing to some patrons.

I need to tell you some stories about myself. You’ll like these stories. Some of them…

Maybe they will remind you of someone you know.
Maybe yourself.
I’ve done some things.
Bad things. Horrible things. Man things.
But, now I’m a father. I have a daughter.
So that’s all behind me…

From the distorted minds that brought audiences The Art of Building a Bunker, Bleed, and Wonderland, comes Daughter, a one-man show that explores the true-bouffon style: stories that expose and laugh at the hypocrisies and difficulties of the human experience.

In the liminal space between truth and fiction, writer/performer Adam Lazarus’ twists the knife in our dirty little secrets. Are we defined by our past? Where do we draw the line? Can we forgive, despite an inability to forget?

Directed by Ann-Marie Kerr (2012 Gina Wilkinson Prize) and performed by master clown Adam Lazarus (2010 SummerWorks Spotlight Award), Daughter examines the beauty and horror of men raised in a patriarchal society having to come face-to-face with their new identity as patriarchs.

Can they evolve? Can they repent? Can they change?

Directed by Ann-Marie Kerr; Written by Adam Lazarus; Created by Adam Lazarus, Ann-Marie Kerr, Jiv Parasram and Melissa D’Agosinto; Co-direction by Melissa D’Agostino and Jiv Parasram; Performed by Adam Lazarus; Sound Design by Richard Feren; Lighting Design by Michelle Ramsay; Movement and Choreography by Kate Alton; Produced by QuipTake and Pandemic Theatre.

Curator’s Note

“Watching an early version of this piece, I laughed like a maniac, then wondered what I was laughing at; felt embarrassed (for myself, then for Adam), wondered if I’d been deceived, and, finally, came away with a host of questions about who we are as men, as adults, as parents, and filled with respect for Adam’s bravery and artistry.” – Guillermo Verdecchia

“I want to tell you about a day. January 31st, 2021. It wasn’t that long ago, I believe.

It was a salient day, at least in North America. I felt it on the Internet and in the weather and in my tummy. It was like the zeitgeist finally saw itself in the mirror, and it wasn’t sure whether to fight or flirt, so it kind of did both and just ate itself. It was a Sunday, clear skies but cold.”

– Hal Tender
(second son of Stella Virginia Tender [former Canadian stage actress, now research assistant in the U. of Guelph’s Post-Audience Theatre Theory and Semiotics Department], younger brother of the one, the only, Billy H. Tender)

Join us for a Bouffon master class with Toronto’s award-winning Adam Lazarus, former pedagogical assistant to Philippe Gaulier. Take the plunge into a world of hypocrisy, razor-sharp mockery, physical precision and the satirical world of the bouffon.

About the workshop

This workshop is designed for both professional and pre-professional actors, dancers, writers, critical thinkers and physical performers, wishing to increase their performance palette. Working in the tradition of French Master Teachers Philippe Gaulier and Jacques Lecoq, the forefathers of physical theatre, this weekend course will challenge students to take risks, hone their improvisational skills and push through performance inhibitions. The workshop aims to help actors find the pleasure of being present and the utter joys in mocking the sacred and critiquing the people and institutions who have power and influence and who set the rules for how society should function.

About the Bouffon

The bouffons travel in gangs and emerge out of the ghettos and swamps to look at and confront the mainstream world, to poke it and to unveil hypocrisy in all its forms. A study of the bouffon ideally leads toward play, hilarity and incendiary critiques. It is with the performer’s pleasure to move, to sing, to cry and to dance, that the audience is drawn in and the performer’s beauty is pushed out. Games and exercises are used to discover students’ pleasure to play and mock social deceptions while simultaneously making audiences love you.

Bouffon creation techniques are extremely useful for performers in all disciplines, especially those with a wicked sense of humor. Adam Lazarus is an award-winning actor, director and acting instructor. He regularly teaches at Canada’s National Theatre School as well as the University of Toronto. He was a former apprentice to Philippe Gaulier with whom he also studied. Adam is the Artistic Director of the Toronto Festival of Clowns.

For the first time in 3 years I’m teaching a performance week. These were always very popular and the timing is finally right again!

WHEN:

December 7-12, 2015

10am-3pm + performances on the 12th at 4pm and 8pm.

WHAT:

A 6 day performance intensive led by Adam Lazarus and guest instructors.

This course focuses on the generation and refining of material. Starting with the question, ‘what’s on your mind?‘ and ending with created plays, character monologues, turns, dialogues, or readings that are ready for initial public viewing.

The goal is for these pieces to be in the pocket of the students for future development and presentation.

Each day, the time will be split into two streams – teaching and performance.

Teaching: We will explore the forms of jeu, clown, bouffon, character and melodrama. Students will be led through various improvisations and movement exercises to inspire scenes, characters and storylines.

Performance: Students will offer ideas for performance that will be worked on and refined.

On the final day of classes, there will be 2 public showings of the week’s generated material. Showings are PWYC with money going back to the students.

FOR WHO:

Designed for professional and pre-professional actors, dancers, writers, critical thinkers and physical performers. You don’t need to come with a finished idea or any idea at all – just a desire to create and present in a collaborative environment.

TIMES:

Monday to Saturday, December 7-12, 10am-3pm.

Saturday December 12, Public showing at 4pm and 8pm.

Please allow 2 to 3 hours of extra time daily outside of class for rehearsal.

HOW MUCH:

$500/$400 for CAEA/union affiliated/teachers/previous students

Showings are PWYC with money going back to the students.

$100 deposit required to hold a spot.

Bursaries available.

Small class size.

Sign up early.

LOCATION:

Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement, Toronto

To reserve a spot:

email: adlazarus(at)rogers(dot)com

TAUGHT BY WHO:

Adam Lazarus is an internationally celebrated artist and acting instructor across Canada, the USA and in Europe. He is a sessional instructor at The National Theatre School of Canada and a regular facilitator of workshops for many of Canada’s top musicians, theatre and film makers. He was the co-founder and artistic-director of the Toronto Festival of Clowns for it’s first 10 years and a graduate of École Philippe Gaulier.

For more info or to reserve a spot:
visit: www.quiptake.com,
email: adlazarus@rogers.com
call: 416-821-3833

TAUGHT BY WHO:
Adam Lazarus is an internationally celebrated artist and acting instructor across Canada, the USA and in Europe. He is a sessional instructor at The National Theatre School of Canada and a regular facilitator of workshops for many of Canada’s top musicians, theatre and film makers. He is the artistic-director of the Toronto Festival of Clowns and a graduate of École Philippe Gaulier.

This July, I’m running a two week intensive geared towards creation and presentation.

This course focuses on the generation and refining of material. Starting with the question, ‘what’s on your mind?‘ and ending the two weeks with created plays, character monologues, turns, dialogues, or readings that are ready for public viewing.

The goal is for these pieces to be in the pocket of the students for future development and presentation.

Classes run Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm

Please allow 2 to 3 hours of extra time daily outside of class for rehearsal.

Public performances on Saturday July 26th and Sunday July 27th.
Limited class size of 14 people.

If interested, please fill out the application below and return to me at adamlazarus0(at)gmail(dot)com